The Mayan Ball Game

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THE MAYAN BALL GAME
Cultures are part and parcel of humanity. It is a way in which human beings spend their daily lives from generation to generation. The Mayan ball game according to the book “Of Cannibals” by Montaigne. Montaigne wrote the book after going back to his country in Europe shortly after coming back from exploration travel to Southern America. He found out the culture of the people of the said region practiced was far different from where he came from.
The people practiced a type of ball game where they used it as past time activity, a cultural sport that was important to the community at last. The game was a sign of wealth and prosperity to the cities that got involved in. The competition required the players to play in an arena where they would defeat one another when the game ended those who died in the game would be buried under the ball game arena (de Certeau, Michel 20).
On the other hand, the game was associated with the basis of people becoming loyal to the gods. Therefore, after the game rituals had to be performed, and the type of sacrifice was a human. The people believed that they had to work towards pleasing their gods for them to lengthen their survival. Hence they would sacrifice kings captured during the war, or even those who were losers in the Mayan ball game and the above is what made them believe in the protection of their gods after a sacrifice has been made.
Since Montaigne came from a society that they saw themselves as more superior to others.

He saw that the cultures that were taking place as they were out of place, they were brutal and all the nasty names they could give. What they failed to see was the fact that despite their cultural activities, these people lived in harmony, peace, and love for one another. They saw only the negative part of society and not the positive as well (de Certeau, Michel 23).

Work Cited
de Certeau, Michel. “Montaigne’s “Of Cannibals’.” The Writing of History. Trans. Tom Conley. New York: Co-lumbia UP (1988).